The present invention relates to a floor lock system for a surgery table and, more particularly, to a floor lock system for supporting a surgery table on an uneven floor surface.
Surgery tables are typically formed as portable units supported on casters whereby the table may be transported between rooms of a hospital and/or moved to desired orientations within an operating room. Once the surgery table is located at a desired position, floor locks may be engaged to positively lock the table in its desired position to thereby prevent movement of the table during an operation. For example, vertically moveable legs may be provided at each of four corners of the table wherein the legs, are moved downwardly into engagement with the floor. Upon engaging the floor, the legs cause the surgery table to move upwardly such that the table is supported by the legs.
One problem associated with the above-described floor lock system wherein vertically moveable legs are provided occurs when the floor surface is irregular or uneven such that the table is permitted to wobble slightly due to at least one of the legs being located in spaced relation to the floor surface when the other three legs are engaged with the floor. For example, floor irregularities may be on the order of one-quarter inch. In order to compensate for irregularities in the floor surface, one of the vertically moveable legs may be provided with an adjustable floor engaging portion wherein the adjustable floor engaging portion may be manually screwed in or out of the vertically moveable leg in order to adjust the length of the leg. This solution has proven to be inconvenient in that if it is desired to move the surgery table, it is either necessary to mark the locations for positioning the support legs or adjust the legs each time the table is moved.
Further, such a support system may permit a small amount of wobbling during a surgical operation. During certain delicate operations, such as microsurgery operations, even small movements of the table are undesirable.
Accordingly, there is a need for a floor lock system for use with a surgery table wherein the system is capable of automatically compensating for any irregularities in a floor surface.